Mesa Boogie Rocket 44

[noisewithin]

I have never owned a tube amp, and was satisfied with my cheap marshall solid state 100 watt head. One day, I was auditioning a drummer when the Marshall blew up. We were in his room, which had a small rocket 44 combo amp with an added mesa cab to it sitting there. I decided to try it.

I could not stop playing. It was the best my early nineties samick les paul imitation had ever sounded. The sound was very bluesy, yet with the contour switch it sounded current enough. I play tuned in dropped B, dropped c and C sharp, and the low end was gorgeous across the board. I noticed how responsive the amp was to my playing, as if I could mold and knead the volume with my hands, rather then the zero to eleven on or off high gain metal sound I thought I was stuck with in my style of music. The feedback I got out of the amp was this creamy beautiful low mid hum in stead of the screaming 2+ K I normally block with a noise suppressor.

Obviously I am now in the market for a mesa amp. I have played rectifiers but never really liked them that much. I believe the rocket 44 had EL84 tubes in it and was rated at 44 watts I'm assuming. (ten times louder then the 100 watt Marshall solid state). I have considered buying a nomad head, or even a .50 caliber head. I am looking at a Son of a Boogie as well. These rockets are really hard to find.

Any suggestions?

A mesa conscript

 

[GD_NC]

Welcome to Boogie Addicts Anonymous! Keep your mind and your wallet open and prepare to be amazed.

What kind of music do you play? There are a bunch of Mesa Amps out there with a wide range of sounds. I'd suggest dropping into some of the forums and listening to the clips posted.

If you are looking for el-84's and or Class A amps you could check out...


Studio .22/22+
.50 Caliber
DC2/DC3
F-30
Express 5/25
Maverick
Blue Angel
Subway/Rocket series
Lonestar Special

One other note: I'd be a little wary of Nomads. They several have known issues and are not one of Mesa best amps for reliablity. (I'm sure I'm going to get crap for saying this by the Nomad lovers out there)

 

[noisewithin]

My music is metal ish, but more motorhead than technical. I am looking to get a more honest, less processed rawer sound
http:/www.myspace.com/noisewithinband
In my genre everyone pretty much swears by the rectifiers, but I just don't get a buzz playing them.

I just got outbid on a Nomad 55 head, went for 475 on ebay. I might try a son of a boogie later today (it's a 6l6 amp though). There's a .50 caliber + head on craigslist I may check out..

 

[GD_NC]

Dont forget to check out the classifieds here. Or just put up a post with what you are looking for. There are plenty of folks here with boogies for sale.

 

[GD_NC]

Oh yea - Just to make it confusing - the .50 cal is 4 x El-84 while the .50Cal+ is 2 x 6L6. Pretty different sounding amps.

 

[cradlefish]

The rocket 44 is an awesome amp! I still have mine despite having my Mark IV and V. This is a killer combo. It's compact, quite light for a mesa, loud, and versatile!

I would not part with this amp as it will hold it's own against any club gigs and rehearsals! I can get crystal cleans to scorching distortion.

I would try and find another one if you can. If the 44 is too loud? Get the 20 watter. It's loud enough and lighter.


I jammed with a drummer recently with the Rocket 44 and it sounded great! It's a monster little amp!

 

[DrTeng]

Believe me when I say the Subway Rocket (about 20 Watts) is loud as hell. I always use it with a powersoak and even then I have to turn things down regularly. I still have to find out good settings on the contour channel that work with my guitars, especially because the treble is so present all the time. I got the feeling (but couldn't find any info about it) the treble is a little more towards the presence frequency on other amps. Especially because there 's no presence knob on it. Any knowledge about it with you guys?

I also started the topic about my combo a few days ago, if it's convenient to all (mods?) we could combine the topics?

TB

 

[cradlefish]

The gain knob acts like a presence as well so I've dial mine down to 2 3/4 or 3, treble 4, mid 9, bass 4 1/4 or 4 1/2. To get great cleans i keep the gain down to 2 and volume to taste. That way the eq is balance with the distortion channel. I hope this helps.

 

[DrTeng]

Thanks a lot!

I've come down to this setting right now. Lead channel rocky enough and the contour is usable too. I play with a Palmer 2.12" Greenback cab instead of the stock 10" speaker. But that was before I found the better settings. Perhaps I'll combine the three, kind of a two-way speakersystem.

Gain 2,5; Master 4, Treble 2, Mid 2, Bass 6 (btw, that gives a lot of bass with the 2.12" cab!)

It's enough for me on the lead channel. Incredible versatile amp anyway.

 

[cradlefish]

awesome! Just in case if I wasn't clear enough on my description. The eq and gain was for the distortion channel. The clean channel was gain 2 and volume was maybe 4-5...don't remember.

It's an incredibly versatile amp. Some people aren't aware of how to utilize the gain on the clean channel to work with the distorted channel. I've read forums and reviews and they complain about the clean breaking up. You can get great cleans by dialing back the gain on the clean channel.

Once that's done. You have both sparkling cleans and great distorted tones in a small but powerful package.

Too bad Mesa discontinued this model. It's an amp that does it all without the weight, size and unneccessary knobs to get the tones you want.

 

[cradlefish]

playing with a 2x12 cab makes a huge difference in your tone and the way you eq your amp.

I'm good with my 1x12 stock speaker. It does an admiral job. The next thing you should do is upgrade the tubes with NOS.

 

[DrTeng]

Yeah, Mesa was looking forward in time with this line of combo's. Compact, powerful and versatile. I read somewhere the 10" combo came out with a pricetag around 1200 USD. I got mine for 350 euro's, but had to service it for another 150 (twice: got a different guy / better tech the second time.. ). So you have the 12" speaker, probably just more conveniant. It sounds great with the 2.12"

Because of my experience with different amps, I never got to discover the difference in gain settings around 1 or 2. Other amps are mostly useless (Fender, H&K, etc) in that region. A few years ago I played on a Studio 22+, but that's another animal. Easier on the clean and in fact, not so different from the Rockets. I'm still surprised the Rocket only on the rhythm channel goes from Dire Straits clean to phat Gary Moore blues. Stunning.

Last week I mailed straight to Mesa customer support. They got back to me within no-time and decided to catalogue what we just discussed, to help other people out with the same issue.

 

[cradlefish]

1200 for 1x10 combo is crazy. I wouldn't pay that much for a combo. I think they were going for 799 or 899 when they came out. Still an excellent value considering what you get from those amps.

You should really consider getting extra tubes for your amp on hand but get NOS for both pre and power if you can?

I just put in some 1962 baldwin el84's in place of my JJel84's and it sounds fantastic! The JJ sounded good and a nice set of backup when I need a replacement, but the Baldwin sounds much richer and 3d like.

The preamp tubes are NOS as well and contribute to more of a warmer, fuller vintage tone.

Look into getting an RCA. Those are good value tubes that will last a lifetime over current production tubes.

 

[DrTeng]

It is a lot of money. Do you live in the US? Keep in mind that because of much a higher taxrate (importing taxes, VAT, aside from the transporting cost from US to Europe) products are a lot more expensive. I am truly convinced that if the amps were priced the same, Mesa would even be more popular in Europe than they are right now. When I lived in DC, the music shop was like a candy-shop for me.
It's just the consequence of living in another continent.

I got JJ's for the preamp, a special selected Tung Sol for V1. I swapped them with the current tubes (GT), but noticed no difference. Perhaps louder and with my different gain settting I will. I haven't swapped the poweramp tubes, they do have a huge role in the tonal spectrum. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[cradlefish]

it's not a big wow life changing difference. It is a difference if you're a cork sniffer i guess...lol

Their pricing is not as bad as you think they are. I get all my tubes from Ebay and i get them at good prices. Just as if i would pay for a set of jj's. You just have to look around.

 

[DrTeng]

No it wasn't. But it was.

I just came back from the band rehearsal. Funny thing is... with my formerly posted setting I totally missed cut-through in the mix and also too less presence. So I dialled the gain in a little (thus presence too), pushed the mids towards 5 and bang... there was a cool Mesa sound. The overdrive sounded very weak too with the mids so low too.

With two channels I covered from James Morrison, Stevie Wonder funk to bold rock from Kings of Leon. Not to mention Van Halen..

 

[cradlefish]

A little gain boost and alot of mids will certainly help you cut through with ease! I have mine at 9 and it sounds great with a band setting. I highly recommend it.... :wink:

 

[DrTeng]

As a bassplayer I was always fond of mids. It gives you cut-through.

I'm going to try your 9.

 

[cradlefish]

Let me know what you think? Listen to it when you playing live not alone. You'll hear the true power of mids then.

 

[DrTeng]

I will. I have three different guitars and I'm trying to find one good setting for all of them. That may sound as utopia but I'm feeling I'm getting there. From single coil to humbuckers. I'm already so much further forward, thanks again.